Aeronautical engineer Donald A. Hall working at his desk — Flying Over Time Collection Donald A. Hall Estate

The Donald A. Hall Collection

The engineer, the evidence, and the fuller story behind the Spirit of St. Louis.

Flying Over Time stewards original and previously digitized photographs, documents, letters, technical material, designs, negatives, and family context connected to Donald A. Hall and the aircraft he helped bring into existence.

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Donald A. Hall

Restoring the designer and chief engineer to the public story.

Donald Albert Hall was the chief engineer at Ryan Airlines during the design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis. Flying Over Time's work centers the engineering, teamwork, risk, iteration, and supporting relationships that made the transatlantic flight possible—not to diminish the pilot's achievement, but to tell a more complete story of how difficult things are actually built.

The Collection offers evidence and family context that can support research, exhibitions, journalism, education, technical explainers, publishing, and carefully governed media production.

Nova Hall never met Donald A. Hall. Flying Over Time therefore treats the Donald A. Hall Collection and later documentary work—not personal recollection between them—as the evidence base for this account.

Collection areas

A source base for history, engineering, art, and education.

Photography

Vintage photographs connected to Hall, Ryan Airlines, aviation history, New York, family life, and the Spirit of St. Louis.

Papers and correspondence

Private letters, family records, published material, notes, and documentary context not captured in standard public summaries.

Designs and technical work

Aircraft design materials, patents, blueprints, inventions, and evidence of Hall’s wider work as an engineer and inventor.

Interpretation and creative work

Books, the one-act play, art, exhibitions, interviews, documentary development, and classroom adaptations built around the source material.

Publication standard

Ownership, stewardship, permission, and public access are not the same thing.

Source integrity: Public claims should connect to identified evidence and preserve uncertainty where the record is incomplete.
Rights: Every item needs a documented owner, copyright and privacy status, permitted uses, restrictions, and approval route.
Credits: Required attribution must travel with web, social, print, exhibition, press, and production derivatives.
Corrections: New evidence and corrections should propagate across related pages, captions, documents, and reused media.
Access: Public discovery can expand while archival masters and restricted records remain protected.

Media and research access

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